Dead Cross – Dead Cross (Review)

Featuring members and ex-members of bands such as Faith No More and Slayer, there’s immediately a certain level of expectation with this, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint.

This is a hardcore release with added insanity, as well as some metallic elements mixed in. It easily and passionately assaults the listener with both heavy and melodic violence. Of course, we love it.

While not really as far-ranging, extreme, or genre-bending as a band like The Dillinger Escape Plan, there’s still some overlap in their styles so that it acts as a decent reference point for Dead Cross’ sound when taken in the present context of old-school hardcore. Think The Dillinger Escape Plan if they were focusing purely on their hardcore side and were covering old-school crossover bands. It depends on your personal reference points of course, as you could just as easily approach this album in terms of groups like Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, or Siege.

Led by Mike Patton’s always-stunning vocal performance, this is 28 minutes of aural chaos the likes of which doesn’t come around too often. Showing the full range of his hyper-impressive voice, the singer displays pretty much every style he’s ever used in his long career over the course of these 10 songs. It’s simply fantastic to hear, and not something to be dismissed lightly.

Although very much the focal point of the songs, (how could they not be?), his vocals do not carry the music at all, as the rest of the band firmly hold their own. The drums are as well-played as you would expect, and the riffs are almost as infectious as the vocals are.

The short, high-impact songs are still long enough to contain all manner of different ideas and ways to split your skull. Very well-written and hideously enjoyable, it’s almost impossible to listen to this without smiling and feeling warm and tingly inside. Well, maybe that’s just me…

Incredibly infectious and mindlessly catchy, this is hardcore mayhem at its very best.